Mundelein 7, Vernon Hills 3

Teams have found out this season how hard it is to score against Mundelein's 7-foot senior goalie Kevin Coughlin.

Senior Jimmy Palac, Coughlin's counterpart at Libertyville, played like a 7-footer in Friday's IHSA water polo sectional semifinal at Vernon Hills.

Mundelein managed to prevail with a 7-3 victory in a match that was tied 2-2 at halftime. The Mustangs advance to a noon sectional final against Stevenson at Vernon Hills. The Patriots edged McHenry 7-6 in overtime.

"That was probably the best game I've seen in awhile by a goalie," Mundelein coach Rahul Sethna said. "There were 5 shots I thought we should have hit that he just stoned us on."

Palac finished with 16 saves.

"If he's not an all-state goalie, then I don't know who is," Libertyville coach Jeff Arce said.

In addition to playing Mundelein to a draw for two quarters, Libertyville had the added advantage that the Mustangs' Mike Begrowicz already had picked up his third ejection.

The Mustangs were able to offset that in part because of the way T.J. Klink performed. Klink had both assists in the third quarter to help Mundelein increase its advantage to 4-2.

"He did a great job of passing," Sethna said.

In the third quarter, Klink's high pass to the middle allowed Pat Falconer to leap and tip it in for a 4--2 lead.

"I knew I had to get up (high) and redirect it," Falconer said.

In the second half, the Mustangs were able to wear down the Wildcats a bit and create better opportunities. In the fourth quarter, Libertyville also had to take more chances to cut into the deficit.

"Once we started mixing it up and trying skip shots we had (better) success," Klink said.

Falconer came through with a match-high 3 goals.

"He was the player of the game for us," Sethna said. "He was pretty active (4 steals). It's been (fun) watching him improve. He's a major weapon for us."

Senior Danny Lejeune, a four-year varsity player, scored 2 goals in the first half. Zach Leboza scored Libertyville's final goal in the fourth quarter.

"I (would) love to have a team full of Danny Lejeunes," Arce said with a smile.

Although Libertyville will have to wait another year to try for its first victory against Mundelein, Arce could find little fault with the way his team played.

"I don't think I've ever seen the kids play with that much heart and intensity," he said. "I'm just extremely proud of my guys."

Stevenson 7, McHenry 6: When Stevenson and McHenry meet this year, drama seems to follow.

In the regular season, McHenry overcame a 6-goal deficit and rallied for a 15-14 victory.

This time around, overtime was needed to declare a winner. Stevenson goalie Andrey Lomsky needed to deflect Bill Dabrowski's penalty shot with less than 2 seconds on the clock to preserve the victory.

"This was his best game of the season," coach Sean Wimer said. "His hard work paid off."

Stevenson appeared in position to put the game away, with control of the ball and the shot clock off. But after McHenry brought its goalie away from the net, Stevenson tried a shot that went over the open net, giving the Warriors another chance.

For McHenry, Ryan Forner and Dabrowski each scored 2 goals.

Stevenson trailed 4-2 at one point in the second half. Seven different players scored for the Patriots.

Mundelein is 2-0 this season against Stevenson, although only one of the matches was contested in an all-deep pool.